Top 5 Scientific Experiments Gone Wrong

Do you know that we are surrounded with scientific experiments that have gone right? Yes, most of the technologies and innovations that we see and use today were once an idea that evolved as a need but gradually scientists and researchers started working on it until the experiments went right and the final product was safe and successful. However, converting one idea into reality is not a joke and it might take years for scientist to achieve something that is unimaginable. Many scientists and researchers continuously work hard in labs to get the desired results out of the experiment and the sad part is that sometimes scientific experiments go wrong and have disastrous effects on environment and human beings as well.

Vanguard Rocket Explosion

Vanguard Rocket Explosion

Rocket explosions are nothing new to top scientific companies because there are thousands of such cases when rockets have been blown into pieces soon after they are launched. However, Vanguard rocket expedition in 1957 was a huge project that was supported by the United States of America and rocket exploded the very next second it was launched which means the rocket did not launched itself in air but simple burst into pieces shattering the dreams and expectations of various top scientists in USA. (image source)

Biosphere 2

Biosphere 2

Settling on moon is on top list for most NASA scientist because they want to find out if people can live on moon or any other planet where people really don’t have the luxury of air, water and food. So, an experiment was performed on few volunteers where they need to live under a huge dome and sustain themselves with air and water produced by certain plants. Many volunteers died due to hunger and the experiment was called off immediately. After the event, no scientist ever thought of attempting such an experiment that would risk the life of volunteers. (Image Source)

Nuclear Fusion

Nuclear Fusion

Nuclear fusion experiments are common to people who are in scientific world but these failed experiments can be very deadly if they go wrong beyond our imagination. One such failed fusion experiment happened in 2002 when strong sound waves were forced to pass through acetone. Immediately, the acetone reacted and bubbles were created that expanded and blew up at very high temperature. Hopefully, no one was hurt but they found out that they were almost right with their experiment but failed to achieve the desired temperature. (Image Source)

AIDS Vaccine

AIDS is quickly covering most part of the planet as more and more people are getting affected with the disease. Top pharmaceutical and medicine companies are constantly working with their research teams to come out with vaccines that would attack the AIDS virus and resolve the situation. University of Oxford and University of Nairobi together came up with a new AIDS vaccine that they tried on various random patients. As per the vaccine it would boost the immune system of an individual so that they can fight the AIDS virus but the response was very dull and it was found that the vaccine dies off immediately after given which disappointed researchers of both teams. (Image Source)

The Aether Wind

The Aether Wind

The nature of light has always attracted top scientists from all over the world and somewhere towards the end of 19th century people studied that light was behaving like a wave rather than going in a straight direction. They tried to studied the fact and found that such nature of light could be because of the motion of the Earth in space. Polish American scientist Albert Michelson designed an interferometer that could measure the speed of light and detect the wind effect as well but light again reacted in the normal way and they didn’t find any wave motion after that. (Image Source)

Comments

The aneutronic nuclear fusion reactor is an experiment expected to go right to harness the fusion power. In my opinion, it presents a better design and its concept is infinitely superior to previous fusion devices.

“admin” wrote:
> Biosphere 2
> Many volunteers died due to hunger and the experiment was called off
> immediately. After the event, no scientist ever thought of attempting
> such an experiment that would risk the life of volunteers.

That is utter rubbish. There were no known deaths due to any of the B2 missions.

I hesitate to say more at this time, but I -would- strongly suggest that you check your facts much more carefully in the future, both for the B2 section and for all other sections.

none of the volunteers involved in biosphere 2 died during the course of the experiment. some were recorded to have lost weight during the first year of the first “mission” but had gained it back by the end of the experiment.

indeed, the biggest problems cited in the biosphere 2 experiment was fluctuating co2 levels resulting in falling levels of oxygen and a failure of business management on the part of the financial backers of the project.

How does a failed experiment equal “gone wrong”? Just because it didn’t work like expected does not mean valuable information cannot be gathered. Article should have been titled 2 experiments gone wrong and 3 other experiments tossed in because I couldn’t be bothered to do any research for the rest of the article.

Seriously, experiments fail ALL the time, and why bother listing the Aether wind?
Why not mention cold fusion?
The malfunction riddled LHC?
The crashed Mars lander in 97?
The nuclear tests conducted by the French, which destroyed the local ecosystem?
I think there are some stories on Soviet scientists trying teleportation and instead blew themselves up.

Gee, that didn’t take 5 min to come up with 5…

Also, it’s the engineer’s job to use science to produce products. Get it right.

In the nuclear fusion part, you say “hopefully, no one was hurt” and that goes to show that you don’t really know what you’re talking about. Injuries either occurred, or they didn’t. Obviously we would hope that they didn’t, but how about you go check your sources (and try finding some better ones this time) and confirm whether or not injuries occurred.

There’s actually an AIDS vaccine being produced currently that uses small rings of DNA molecules (basically instead of long strands with two separate ends, both ends are attached to form a circle) and inserted into the patient’s cells via electroporation and various other methods. The reason rings are used is because the cell will in fact start responding to the inserted DNA, but only temporarily, as it does not actually alter the patient’s genome. The DNA rings instruct the cells to produce proteins that would otherwise ONLY be present in the body if the virus were present (i.e. proteins produced by the virus, and only the virus) so that the white blood cells develop antibodies to those proteins and in the future could easily fight off the virus. So far it seems to be going well.

Also, I’m going to go ahead and guess that English isn’t your first language…this whole page reads like a very poor, literal translation of some foreign language

Ok and for the last one…seriously? The wavelengths of any visible light are on the scale of nanometers, which is far too small for any human eye to see. Later physicists discovered that light is indeed a form of a wave, although it is also made up of tiny photons. The wave-like nature of light may or may not be a direct result of the wave-like nature of those photons, a common principle of quantum mechanics.

As has been said, no one died in the Biosphere 2 experiment. I did however read that the project was severely compromised. The plants didn’t thrive, and it was later (as I understand it) determined that outside sources had been sneaking food and other supplies into the biosphere. There were also some questions about the scientific value of the biosphere experiment and some questions about the motivations and goals for the project that weren’t exactly scientific.

I have a simple request to the readers of this article. Please write a comment and tell us whether or not anyone died in the biosphere2 project. Some 20 or 30 more responders would clarify matters substantially. Thank you,